DC Cupcakes: Red Velvet Cupcakery, Cake Love, and Whole Foods

Second round of taste tests for the local DC cupcakeries! This time we decided to see how the low-end grocery store cupcake holds up to the challenge! 

Care to take a guess on which cupcake is which? Red Velvet is another one of the chains that have popped up in the cupcake trend. Cake Love is one of DC's most prominent and longest standing cake stores, that only started selling cupcakes along side their slices of cake since the trend. Then there's Whole Foods, a healthy grocery store specializing in herbs, health foods, organic, farm raised foods, which also offers a "boutique" cupcake at nearly half the price of actual cupcake boutiques. 


Looking at the above pictures I can sure tell you which cupcake I think would cost two dollars.


So, I held my second taste test with all the same standards and criteria I did for my first edition of DC Cupcakes: What the Locals Think. These results were dramatically different than the first round. The first round were the cupcakeries I determined to be perhaps the "more popular" cupcakeries. It turns out I was right. I knew Cake Love would be well known, and chances were few people had considered a Whole Foods cupcake...I had no idea how poorly asking about Red Velvet would go.  


But first: Let's talk taste test! 


The results were nearly unanimous on the taste test: 

• Red Velvet had the favorite cake. 
• Cake Love had the favorite icing. 
• Whole Foods was deemed "tasteless" 
• Red Velvet's Gnache Icing was "far too bitter" 
• When asked to pick an "overall favorite" every person picked Cake Love. 

Survey Stats: 

Unlike last time, where 100 people were just brimming over with their opinions about Georgetown Cupcakes, Hello Cupcake, and Baked & Wired, Wednesdays survey yielded a lot of confused looks, perplexed responses, and questions about each one's location. Easily the most common response was "Is that the one that's in [Penn Quarter/U St.]? I think my [roommate/girlfriend/boyfriend/coworker] has been there." 

I honestly in good faith can't even give you stats. The response rate just wasn't high enough for me to consider it truly legit. Lets just leave it with: Cake Love had the most consistent favorable comment, and Red Velvet was easily the most hated, and literally, only one person said they'd had a Whole Foods cupcake, and they expressed sheer hatred towards it. 

Even at the end of all this, Baked & Wired and Georgetown Cupcake are remaining as the only cupcakes in town that the DC locals really poured out the love for. If you're only in town for a short trip head straight to Baked & Wired! I'd hate for the line at Georgetown to take up an hour of your trip! 

Cake Love: A DC Tradition

Cake Love has been in DC longer than the cupcake craze, the same cannot be said for the other cupcake boutiques, and though they won today's taste test, it was commonly noted that they are better for cakes, and not cupcakes. Though they did win the taste test, in the survey they were always described as "okay." Nobody said that it was their favorite cake spot in town (but after last months love for Baked & Wired it would be hard for me to imagine there a lot of love left). The shop itself is somewhat airy, if not a little too dark despite the large windows. The displays were uninspiring, and the cupcake the least gourmet looking of any cupcake yet in either taste test. The chocolate cake itself came off with a highly nutty flavor, and during the taste test was not identified as chocolate cake, but rather a spice cake. Odd right? 

Favorites flavor cupcake mentioned in the survey: Chocolate, German Chocolate, and Coconut

Décor: 8 it has a semi cutesy vintage kitchen feel

Service: 8 friendly, not enthusiastic

Packaging: 2, paper bags and due to the soft frosting it traveled POORLY

Variety:  5 nothing you hadn't seen before

Red Velvet: Move Over Hello Cupcake, Meet The New Last Favorite

Thought not everyone agreed the survey was pretty explicit that Red Velvet Cupcakery was not loved. On a personal note, I'm sorry but I have to say it: I spit out my bite of chocolate gnache. It was inedible. I tried it again once I'd adjusted my notions that this gnache was very dark, but it didn't help. It was bitter and frankly disgusting. The taste testers agreed. Some of the survey participates spoke about seeing unsanitary conditions and bug infestations. I wish I had started with the survey. I wouldn't have taken that bite. One of the taste testers actually said: "UGH! If the Donner party would have had these cupcakes, they still would have kept on eating each other!" 

To be fair, there was some praise of Red Velvet, and one person did say "as a frequent buyer, I've noticed that some days the cupcakes are better than others.  So if you only go once and hate it, I'd say go back at least once." So maybe we just caught them on a bad day....except for one thing. They also have a location in Tucson, Arizona, and I sent some feelers out to the foodies I know in Tucson. The responses I got said the exact same discouraging things, AND were wondering how Red Velvet Cupcakery had managed to stay in business as they rarely saw customers in the store located on the University of Arizona Campus. A vacant cupcake shop on a major university campus? That might say it all. 

Favorites flavor cupcake mentioned in the survey: Birthday Cake, Black Velvet

Décor: 5, depending on location, Dupont: 0 it's stuck in with Tangy Sweet, Penn Quarter 6, Tucson: 4

Service: 7, not particularly friendly, not ready at opening

Packaging: 5 a brown bag with a BIG A sticker on it, poor branding

Variety: 7 

Whole Foods: The "Boutique" Cupcake You've Never Heard of For a Reason

I won't even humor  the idea of trying to talk about Whole Foods. I LOVE this store, but it was a bad cupcake, with waxy frosting and no taste. It literally tasted like you were eating nothing. If there wasn't texture you wouldn't have known there was a cupcake. With nobody in the survey having tried the cupcakes, save one, there isn't a whole lot to say except this: 

Boutique cupcakes cost twice as much for a reason. They actually have flavor. 

I must admit, I was very excited about the idea that maybe this underdog cheap cupcake could contend....but it couldn't. You can make a better cupcake from a mix, and you should. For two dollars, go ahead and buy a cake mix. You'll be much happier. 

Favorites flavor cupcake mentioned in the survey: NA

Décor: NA it's a grocery store after all

Service: 7, polite, helpful, not knowledgeable

Packaging: 6, plastic containers that actually traveled best out of the day

Variety:  6, but does it matter if they aren't good? 

Thanks for reading! Hope that helps you make your choices! Personally I recomend reading the quotes below! They crack me up! 

A few quotes from the survey: 

Is cake love the one on U-Street?  I've never been there, and I've never even heard of the other two.. - M in DC

Never had any of them... I guess I should expand my cupcake horizons... - G in MD

I've heard of cake love but..... - M in MD

Cake love/love cafe: There cupcakes are ok, their frosting is different, I like their use of fresh fruit.  They have a good chocolate cake.  Not my favorite cupcake place. - E in DC


Cake love has the best German Chocolate cupcake I have ever had and they have a lot of novel ideas for cupcakes. Cake Love gets my vote. Red Velvet is a bit ordinary and boring for my taste and I have never had on of the whole foods boutique cupcakes.  - C in DC

I tried Cake Love once...it was alright. The most memorable part was the sweet, light, homemade tasting frosting (good but not my favorite kind...it was kind of like eating cool whip) and the cute vintagy look of the kitchen. The day I went anything with chocolate was on sale. So that was automatic brownie points in my book. - M in DC

Red Velvet Cupcakery: Easily my favorite of the 3.  I love their small tiny shop on 7th & E NW. It's simple and I like that.  Their Red Velvet cupcake isn't any better or worse than Red Velvet cupcakes at other places.  But I'm not a Red Velvet fan.  I really love their Devil's Food, best Chocolate Gauche Frosting I can buy on a cupcake.  B-Day is also yummy, they use almond in their yellow cake and that works nicely with the chocolate frosting. I also love their Black Velvet cupcake .  It's a vegan, gluten free cupcake.  I'm neither a vegan nor do I have to eat gluten free foods, but I love this cupcake.  The texture is different, it's a nice change.  To me, gluten free means more room to add coco. Their Peanut Butter cupake is also good.  Being a frequent buyer, I've noticed that some days the cupcakes are better than others.  So if you only go once and hate it, I'd say go back at least once. - EU in DC

Red Velvet...my least favorite in DC. The cupcakes are too expensive for what you get. Their Devil's Food? SICK. Don't even try it. Their Summertime cupcake is yummy though. - M in DC

Red velvet had flies all over the place the one time I was there. -MC in DC

I've never tasted their "boutique" cupcakes.  If you give me a choice of buying brownie bites or cupcakes at the same store , I'll choose the brownie bites every time.  That said, I'm sure the cupcakes are pretty good.  I've never had anything from Whole Foods that was sub par. But truthfully I'd rather buy my boutique cupcakes from a boutique than a grocery store. - E in DC

DC Cupcakes: What the Locals Think

With the latest DC cake show to be airing tonight I thought I'd have the locals of DC weigh in on the cupcake scene. As seen on Photograzing. 

As a baker who lives and works in DC it’s high time I discuss with you the cupcake craze. It seems to have taken DC by storm. Since I moved here three years ago, a new cupcakery seems to have sprouted up about every six months. It’s so hard to keep track of which cupcake I ate and where. 

So, I decided it was time to hold a blind taste test and an opinion poll. Let me take one second to make my disclaimer: I’m not paid for this, don’t want to paid for this, I just want to eat cake and give you some straight up unbiased and unpaid for opinions.

I picked my first three cupcakeries to taste: Georgetown Cupcakes (soon to have a show on TLC  DC Cupcakes), Baked & Wired, and Hello Cupcake. I went to each and picked up the basic staple: chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting. Because each place has a few variations, I chose the cupcake that the shop deemed good enough to serve on a daily basis.

The results were ENTIRELY unanimous on the taste test:

• Hello Cupcake was DRY. Lease favorite for all.
• The favorite frosting was Baked & Wired.
• The favorite cake was Georgetown Cupcake.
• When asked to pick an “overall favorite” every single person picked Baked & Wired.

Survey Stats:

100 people were asked: Hello Cupcake, Baked and Wired, and Georegetown Cupcakes: which is your favorite and least favorite, and why?????

Favorite:

Baked and Wired: 76%

Georgetown Cupcakes 24%

Hello Cupcake: 0%

Least Favorite:

Hello Cupcake: 55%

Georgetown Cupcake: 33%

Baked & Wired: 12%

*non responses were excluded from the percentages. Roughly 1 in five people were excluded from the survey because they’d never been to any of the three.

Surprised by the results? I’m not.

For the next round we’ll do Love Cafe (Part of Cake Love and their show on the Food Network Sugar Rush), Red Velvet and Sticky Fingers, a vegan bakery.

Here’s my personal review each cupcakery.

The Least Favorite: Hello Cupcake

DRY. So dry it was hard to actually get a good bit out of it with a fork, and for me, the fork test for cake is HUGE. If I can’t get a good fork full of cake…not worth my time. Their location is steps away from a metro stop and their the only cupcake hub for a mile in any direction. I’m pretty sure that’s how they stay in business. They also gets some props for catering to the gluten free or vegan crowd which also seems to hang around the Dupont section of town. Their store is basic, and displays are lackluster. Cheaply decorated with ten dollar glass containers full of sprinkles, that are not airtight and make me wonder about their sanitation. I know because I considered these containers for my kitchen storage and decided against them. Their staff is less than knowledgeable. If you are going to have gluten free and vegan snacks, you need to know what types of sugar and flour go into each cupcake. 

One of our taste testers was surprised that he picked the Hello Cupcake as his least favorite as he frequents it so often.

The good points: In the opinion poll people RAVED about their Lemon Cupcakes. It was called to die for. Their packaging is great for traveling. Your cupcake with make it anywhere and not be ruined or loose half the frosting.

Favorite flavor cupcakes mentioned in the survey: You Tart! Mayan Chocolate

Décor: 2

Service: 2, prompt, but the staff is not knowledgeable about ingredients

Packaging:  8, not cute, but your cupcake will arrive safely

Variety:  7

Georgetown Cupcakes: Chic and Trendy

Georgetown easily has the best branding of any cupcake shops in DC. They’ve marketed themselves so well it’s amazing. One person in the survey even mentioned that they “love their corporate identity” and that’s true of most of their fans. Since they’ve recently moved locations however I feel some of the identity has been lost. I love the quaint little shop around the corner. Walking into the new location on M Street felt a little too much like a factory. Standing in line watching the baking trays of cupcakes in their stands, I felt like a lot of the personality was gone. They have more seating now, pretty molding, white walls and modern furniture accents and lovely three tiered cupcake displays that are charming. But watching the army of staff and the loss of the personal feel of the old store I am leaning away from the love. I also found the large signs warning about nut allergies to be rather detracting. They strongly advise that if you have nut allergies you do not eat any of their cupcakes.

Flavor wise? This is not the bang for your buck cupcake. Easily the smallest cupcake of the three, with the least frosting or decoration. It’s still a very chic cupcake, minimalist in decoration, made with quality ingredients and very moist. The favorite cake of the three. A very good cupcake, but neither the taste test or the survey lived up to the hype.

Favorites flavor cupcake mentioned in the survey: Lemon Berry, Chocolate2 or 3, Chocolate Coconut

Décor: 8

Service: 8, not fast, long lines, but friendly and knowledgable

Packaging:  5 cute, but I’ve never had a cupcake travel twenty feet with losing half the frosting in the box

Variety:  9

Baked & Wired: The Locals Favorite

“Off-Beat” is probably the best way to describe Baked & Wired. They aren’t just cupcakes though. One survey participant didn’t think they should be included in the survey even because of it. (Personally I think it’s smart of them to diversify. Cupcakes won’t last forever). But overwhelmingly the taste test and the survey professed DC’s deep love for Baked & Wired.

They have much more hang out appeal, with local art on the walls, a coffee bar, and a large selection of flavors all lined up under glass domes. Rows and Rows of cake plates covered in treats and a selection that is better for a group that includes those people who don’t like cake. They give away free coffee grinds for composting, have doggy water bowls, and draw on the sidewalk in chalk all the time. They’re relaxed and very friendly. You practically can get the life story of the guy behind the counter if you want it. It has a community, and their community loves them.

They also have the largest of the cupcakes, with inventive names and frosting flavors, quality ingredients, and the best frostings. If only their cake was a little more moist, they’d be the trifecta.

Favorite flavors mention in the survey: Karen’s Birthday Cake, Chocolate Doom, Pretty Bitchin’, Red Velvet

Décor: 7 - creative, but a bit poorly lit

Service: 10 -  friendly, helpful, knowledgeable

Packaging:  9 – minimalist but also get the cupcake there in one piece, love the wax paper wrappers

Variety:  8 -  creative flavor names, wide selection, heavy on the chocolate flavors but I like chocolate, seasonal fresh fruit incorporated

Let’s Talk Peanut Butter:

I personally have also tried to peanut butter flavor at each location. I feel iffy about Hello Cupcakes peanut butter blossom. The cake it still too dry, as is the frosting. The texture leaves something to be desired. I end up there because it’s on my way home.  Georgetown Cupcakes does not have a good equivalent. Their peanut butter ditty is hardly peanut butter. A couple tablespoons of peanut butter filling is harldy going to please the peanut butter lover. It’s their only cupcake that has ever actually annoyed me. Baked & Wired has my favorite peanut butter cupcake named “Pretty Bitchin’” and it lives up to the name. Why can’t that cake be more moist??? Like our other taste test and survey, Baked and Wired wins out again.

A few Quotes from the Survey:

If I really want to indulge, then I go for B&W.  If I just want a sugar fix, then I go to GC. I've never really been impressed with Hello –MM in DC

I love Baked and Wired because I like a denser cake that you have to cut with a fork. Their cupcakes are big and the frosting is thick. Favorite: Karen's Birthday Cake (chocolate cake with buttercream frosting!) – ML in Maryland

I've never been to any of them. I think the fancy cupcake craze is rather ridiculous. –EC in DC

Favorite is baked and wired, the georgetown's frosting tends to be too buttery. –HP in DC

Favorite is Baked and Wired, because they're bigger and just feel more like home-cooked amazingness.  I haven't been to Hello Cupcake yet I'm inclined to say it's my least favorite, which is probably why I've never been.  I think Georgetown Cupcake is cute and tasty, but not as amazing as B &W. –BC in Maryland

I love Baked and Wired - big, dense, sugary cupcakes! While trying to decide on a flavor I once said, as an aside to my friend, that I wanted a strawberry chocolate cupcake.  The girl working there gave me a free strawberry cupcake that she was going to throw away (because it had one minuscule chocolate crumb on it) and I bought a chocolate cupcake - two for the price of one! (I shouldn't have eaten both but I did.) Once I try all of their cupcake flavors I need to start in on those brownies that are so tempting. Least Favorite: Georgetown Cupcake - they have some interesting flavors, but they're small and I was under whelmed with the taste –MS in Maryland

 I find cupcakes on the whole really awkward to eat with the frosting piled high the way it is.  Unless one is going to eat the cupcake with a knife and a fork, I think the frosting on the cupcake should be flat or close to flat on the cake.—JD in Maryland

I've never been to any of them, actually, though I had heard something about D.C. being the cupcake capitol of the world—AH in Maryland

I've only been to Georgetown Cupcake and Hello Cupcake. Between those two, Georgetown definitely wins. They just taste better! Although I have to hand it to Hello's lemon cupcake, which is delicious. But EVERYTHING at Georgetown Cupcake is delicious, and it's hard to compete with that.—CK in Maryland

I've only tried GC, and I think they're fantastic, but I also think cupcakes are on their way out.  Vive les macarons! –JL in Maryland

I like Georgetown cupcake for many reasons. The location is chic. The boxes are adorable. The cupcakes are delicious (especially chocolate Gnache, Red Velvet, and Carrot Cake. MMMM!) They are super yummy. It's just a classy place that I don't think you can beat. –HJ in Maryland

Baked and wired is the best because their cupcakes are more filling (bigger) and their frosting is more creamy. By far more delicious all around. Georgetown cupcakes are my least favorite. –CH in DC

Baked and Wire is my favorite.  The portion sizes are big, the cake is thicker (but not as overly dry as Cakelove's) and the frosting is creamy and has a good flavor.  I used to like Georgetown cupcake because the cupcakes are so light and airy, but I don't think the wait or the price is worth it. –JD in DC

Never been, and find the craze a bit ridiculous.—SO in Virginia

I've never been to any of them...  And while I like cupcakes, I'm not sure what all the hullabaloo is about.—RR in Maryland